I've noticed over the years that 2 issues exist where I store split wood. My main area is close to the Mississippi river, thus, basically an old sand bar that provides really good water drainage so just using pallets directly on the ground works fine. In my other main location, the ground is a heavy clay soil that doesn't drain well so I use old 6x6's under the pallets to get them off the ground further, providing more area for air to flow around the stacks. I usually am only 9 months ahead, but I supply camp fire bundles so moisture levels down to the 20-24% are okay for me.
Firewood Stacking Depth?
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I stack them a little higher in the center so the water sheds off when I top cover. As they dry they flatten out. Each stack is a little over three cords. The last picture is a stack that will get burned this winter.
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That surely saves a lot of yard space.
Yep that’s why I stack this way. Undoubtedly stacking in single rows in full sun would dry faster but this works for me. I’m sitting on 18+ cords cut/split/stacked which is three years worth.
True about keeping it dry after it seasons.
Oak typically takes much longer than most other hardwoods to season.
Maybe in Texas it drys fast or other climates like Arizona, New Mexico etc., but up here in Ontario when you get 3 feet of snow on the ground for over 3 months of the year it drys slow. We have really humid air a lot of the time. That just makes it take at least twice as long as other hardwoods. I've split lots of Red Oak and after 2 years and found it well over the 10% moisture I like to burn under. It's all relative to your climate.
Nice job and lots of firewood there.I just bucked up a big Oak log. My 36" bar almost made it through, but they were still too heavy to move, so I noodled them. I used the MS290 with 20" bar for the noodles. I wouldn't loose that log because of size. I could have pulled the whole log up on the trailer in 8' sections. Except the reason they took it down was the tree split in half so the log was ruined to mill. Just like eating an elephant, one bite at a time.
Too bad they lost the tree. It looked like t was in a good spot well away from the house.
Is it a Red Oak, White Oak....?
When it freezes, seasoning pretty much comes to a stand still. Yes location is a big part of it.
Funny how things that big sit in front of you and you just take them for granted. I'm pretty sure this was pin Oak, just never paid attention. There were several big Oaks in my inlaws yard and their neighbors yard. Both families were school teachers, and the Horticulture teacher did landscaping in the summer. He planted the trees for them in the early 60's, and picked fast growing varieties. So, he had Pin, Willow, and Reds spread around the yards. That was Al's biggest Oak, and my MIL's biggest, which is still healthy, is about the same size and it's a Pin.
Actually, up here in MD, it's very humid, and the local forester told us that wood continues to dry after it freezes because the humidity drops so much. The ambient humidity still seeks a level. So, probably 50 years ago my dad did some test with weighing White Oak, and it did continue to get lighter after everything froze up. We didn't have meters back then, at least not cheap get it at the hardware store meters. All tests were done with weighing known pieces stacked through the wood pile.
